Before You Move, Clear Out The Clutter

Written by dan the roommate man


One ofrepparttar biggest hassles of moving to a new apartment is packing, and unpacking-- your belongings. While it's tempting to just throw everything in any box, packing isn't that straight-forward. Breakables and odd-sized items need to be protected, boxes need to be light enough to lift and carry and items that are housed in various rooms need to travel together.

One terrific way to make packing and unpacking much easier (and save money on your moving costs) is to clean house and clear outrepparttar 110438 clutter before you even begin to pack. There's simply no reason to go on storing things you'll really never use, especially when you're investingrepparttar 110439 time and money to move those things to your new home.

Disposal options are many and include giving things to family, friends and neighbors, donating things to charitable organizations and selling things at a yard or garage sale. The garage sale is a popular choice because it brings in some extra cash for any unanticipated moving expenses.

Place an classified ad announcingrepparttar 110440 garage sale in your local newspaper, open your event early inrepparttar 110441 morning and be prepared to sell your belongings for much less than you paid for them. People will buy just about anything at a yard sale, but they usually expect a hefty discount on stuff that's been used. The items for sale should be cleaned, reasonably priced (use small round stickers) and attractively displayed.

If you want to price things right and getrepparttar 110442 most money for your stuff, visit a few other sales in your neighborhood before you hold your own. Askrepparttar 110443 people holdingrepparttar 110444 sale how they determined their prices and how well various categories of goods (e.g., books, clothing, toys) are selling. Then price your own items accordingly.

Settling In: Pre-Move Pointers for Taking Stock

Written by dan the roommate man


Despite all ofrepparttar hassle moving represents, whenrepparttar 110437 anxiety is gone andrepparttar 110438 dust has cleared, most of us have to admit that it's a liberating experience. It forces us to rid ourselves ofrepparttar 110439 clutter accumulated inrepparttar 110440 house we're leaving. Whether of not you buy new furniture for your new residence,repparttar 110441 motions of packing up and heading for different surroundings is a positive experience for most movers. It's an opportunity to start over.

Before you move, it's a good idea to take inventory of your belongings and consider what place they'll have -- if any -- in your new home. After all, when you moved into your current home, your family's needs were different. Since then, its occupants have become older, hobbies have been abandoned, tastes have changed, and now, suddenly, items you once thought you'd die without don't seem that wonderful anymore.

* Taking stock of your furniture is a good place to start; after all, if you decide to get rid of a piece or two, you can save yourselfrepparttar 110442 considerable expense of moving them. In addition to your furniture, take a good look at your lamps, rugs, pillows, and other accessories -- particularlyrepparttar 110443 ones you've stored away for months -- and decide whether they really reflect your tastes anymore. Some of them may serve little purpose other than to clutter your closets and collect dust. Rid yourself of them, while reminding yourself that everything you pack means more boxes, more packaging and labor costs, and more to unpack later.

* An effective strategy is to draw on paperrepparttar 110444 floor plan of your new home. Sketch inrepparttar 110445 designated spots for your furniture, making sure you've noted where such obstacles as fireplaces, windows, built-in shelves or desks, etc., are located. Remember where your electric outlets, telephone jacks, and television hookups are located, and make sure you've consideredrepparttar 110446 direction in which your doors open. If you're looking for a more exact plan, with square footage taken into account, take a note from Better Homes and Gardens Online, which suggests using graph paper to draw your rooms to scale. Each square translates to one foot of available space.

Here's where your creativity takes over: After measuringrepparttar 110447 size and shape of each major piece of your furniture, draw them on graph paper usingrepparttar 110448 same one-square-per-foot scale as you did forrepparttar 110449 rooms in your new home. Then cutrepparttar 110450 shapes and arrange your miniature furniture within your various room floor plans. Once you've made a decision about what suits you and where, attachrepparttar 110451 shapes ontorepparttar 110452 page.

While this process requires a little patience and a little more creativity, planning ahead enables you to avoid either moving heavy furniture yourself, long afterrepparttar 110453 movers have left; or having your movers pause upon entry into a room, shouldering a heavy load as you decide where that 300-pound dresser should be placed. (Of course, you'd be lucky to find such a tolerant mover.) You've got a plan of attack that makes your life and your movers' lives easier. You can point them in a direction and move on torepparttar 110454 next item. The bottom line is that you're paying byrepparttar 110455 hour, and a little sketching and cutting now will save you labor costs later. Takerepparttar 110456 trouble to draw only your major pieces of furniture; your smaller items and accessories can be placed anywhere for now, until you have time to considerrepparttar 110457 perfect spots for them.

This strategy also allows you to experiment with various arrangements that you may have considered inrepparttar 110458 past, but abandoned because it seemed like too much effort to pursue. And trying out new configurations is a consolation for not being able to purchase new furniture. Even if you've resigned yourself to a sofa that doesn't thrill you anymore, arranging your furniture in a different manner may provide you with a completely new outlook on belongings that once seemed tired. That variety, combined with a new place of residence, is bound to inspire you. And don't restrict your furnishings torepparttar 110459 rooms in which you've traditionally placed them. For example,repparttar 110460 chest of drawers sitting in your bedroom might look even better in your new living room. This move is your big chance to experiment -- and you don't even have to moverepparttar 110461 furniture yourself.

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